Aithalas

Saint Aithalas was a deacon in Persia in the 4th century and received the crown of martyrdom in the year 380, with Bishop Acepsimas and the priest Joseph. Acepsimas was bishop of the Persian city of Naesson, loved by his flock for his asceticism and tireless pastoral work. When King Shapur II ordered the Christian clergy hunted down and killed, he too was seized, an old man of eighty. He was brought to Arbela and tried by Ardakh, the priest of the sun god. The saint refused to sacrifice to the Persian gods, was cruelly beaten and thrown into prison, where the next day, after harsh torture, the seventy-⁠year-⁠old priest Joseph and the deacon Aithalas were thrown.

For three years they were held in bonds, tormented by hunger and thirst. Then the king came to the temple of the fire god near Arbela and wished to see the three martyrs. Exhausted and covered with sores, they again refused to worship the pagan gods. The bishop was beheaded, and the priest and the deacon were taken into the town and stoned. Joseph's death lasted some hours; a guard was posted near the place of execution so that Christians could not take the martyr's body, but on the fourth night a strong storm killed the guard with lightning and scattered the stones, and Joseph's body vanished. Aithalas was taken to the village of Patrias and stoned there. The Christians buried his body secretly, and on his grave a tree grew whose fruits brought healing. The Church of Georgia commemorates him on 1 September (old style; 14 September new style).